SEOUL, South Korea —
On Monday, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with the Republic of Korea Minister of Defense Song Young-Moo as well as his military counterpart, Gen. Lee Sun-Jin.
During the meetings, Gen. Dunford affirmed the ironclad commitment of the U.S. to the alliance with the ROK. He stressed that North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs threaten the entire global community and endanger peace and stability in the region. To meet this threat, he encouraged strengthening trilateral cooperation between the U.S., the ROK and Japan while working to achieve a complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He conveyed America's readiness to use the full range of military capabilities to defend our allies and the U.S. homeland.
Gen. Dunford also thanked the retiring Gen. Lee for his service to the Republic of Korea and for his personal friendship over the last two years as they worked to strengthen the U.S.- ROK alliance.